Accelerating Resilient Energy Infrastructure: Creating Microgrid Deployment Pathway for U.S. Customers
The enormous electrification challenge facing the U.S. and the globe is one that cannot be tackled by one company alone.
Delivering hundreds of new gigawatts, despite a utility grid unprepared for the diversity of the challenge, is no solo feat. Collaboration is the key, whether it’s microgrids or distributed energy infrastructure.
To that end, more than 20 companies are joining forces to create the new Accelerating Resilient Infrastructure Initiative. Schneider Electric, which is helping coordinate the campaign to support public and private sector electrification solutions nationwide, announced the initiative Thursday morning.
“Lots of customers are trying to navigate their own growing loads, such as electrification of their sites, balancing it with on-site power and energy efficiency,” Jana Gerber, North American President for Microgrids at Schneider Electric, told Microgrid Knowledge. “This initiative creates a nationwide deployment path for these customers.”
The hubbub emanating from future load forecasts mainly emanates from the data center industry, but there are far more sectors seeking both grid resiliency and sustainability by integrating microgrids and distributed energy resources. Those include public service infrastructure, universities, manufacturing, industrial and commercial industry sites—all of whom desire on-site power resiliency but do not know where to start.
“This initiative is like hitting the easy button for communities that need resilient energy solutions but are overwhelmed by where to start,” Gerber said. “We’ve aligned proven technologies, delivery partners and real financing—$7.5 billion in deployable capital—to make it simple for organizations to act now. This initiative helps communities fast-track planning and deployment so they can lock in incentives, avoid upfront costs, and build infrastructure that’s reliable, sustainable and future-ready.”
Microsoft is a key partner in the Accelerating Resilient Infrastructure Initiative, bringing cloud, artificial intelligence (AI) and data capture and analysis capabilities to the effort. Cross-sector partners include microgrid and on-site power projects developers such as AlphaStruxure, Azzo, Mainspring Energy, Verdant Microgrid and energy storage firm Viridi, among others, as well as consulting firms Arcadis and Baringa, insurer Zurich and nonprofit Resilient Cities Network. (A complete list of initiative participants will be included at the bottom of this story).
“The initiative is a powerful example of how industry collaboration and digital innovation can accelerate the deployment of resilient energy infrastructure at scale,” said Darryl Willis, Corporate Vice President, Energy & Resources Industry at Microsoft, in a statement. “By combining Schneider Electric’s expertise with Microsoft’s trusted cloud and AI technologies, we are helping communities strengthen critical infrastructure, unlock new business value and advance a more sustainable, secure and resilient energy future.”
The engagement of seasoned microgrid providers such as Schneider Electric, AlphaStruxure—which is a joint venture of Schneider and Carlyle—and EcoStruxure Microgrid Flex program partners AZZO, Pisgah Energy and Sprocket Power will bring in close to $7.5 billion of available financing to create U.S. energy resiliency projects to ease the upfront financial burdens on microgrid and DER site customers.
Utilizing standardized and modular solutions such as the Microgrid Flex program also streamlines the process.
The rising wave of data center and AI future load is coming at the utility grid like a tsunami. And this is a moment in time in which grid outages cost the American economy close to $150 billion annually, according to statistics from the U.S. Department of Energy.
“All of these sectors are experiencing load growth,” Gerber said. “They are also challenged with energy cost growth, and loss of revenue from weather or emergency related activities. How can we solve all of those at once with microgrid-type solutions?”
The Accelerating Resilient Infrastructure Initiative is a multi-pronged approach to doing just that. It also seeks to offer financial options for customers at a time when the current administration has put deadlines for investment and production tax credits for many renewable and distributed energy projects.
Under the plan, projects can be delivered as long-term service agreements such as energy as a service—in which the developer handles upfront costs and the investment is paid back in installments—and energy savings performance contracts to fund energy upgrades based on future savings.
“These are similar, yet different, mechanisms to deliver microgrids,” Gerber noted. “With utility costs going up, that’s not going to stop.”
The roster is deep for the Accelerating Resilient Infrastructure Initiative, but the program is open to adding new partners. The original lineup, in full, includes Schneider Electric, Microsoft, AlphaStruxure, EVerged, Unison Energy, Verdant Microgrid, Sunrock Distributed Generation, Sustainability Partners, AZZO, Celsisus Energy, CDM Smith, Viridi and Viridi Edge, Arcadis, Baringa, Zurich, Pisgah Energy, Sprocket Power, Graybar, and Resilient Cities Network.
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About the Author
Rod Walton, Microgrid Knowledge Managing Editor
Managing Editor
For Microgrid Knowledge editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].
I’ve spent the last 15 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. I was an energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World before moving to business-to-business media at PennWell Publishing, which later became Clarion Events, where I covered the electric power industry. I joined Endeavor Business Media in November 2021 to help launch EnergyTech, one of the company’s newest media brands. I joined Microgrid Knowledge in July 2023.
I earned my Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. My career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World, all in Oklahoma . I have been married to Laura for the past 33-plus years and we have four children and one adorable granddaughter. We want the energy transition to make their lives better in the future.
Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech are focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.
Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.